CONFORMING 9 TO 5

What a way to make a living..

For those reading this under the age of 18, you’re probably deciding how to act in your high school career.. jump on the bandwagon? Be apart of the group? or just jump off the cart and go your own way, risk it all, and be apart of the anti establishment..

Keep in mind this: The high school worries will end fast. On the final day of senior year.. all of the Facebook posts and gossip, rabble rousing of teachers and lunch room battles will become so insignificant.. They will hold no more weight.. the importance will be about as large in stature as a game of high school football. Varsity jackets will grow old and tear, the fabric will come apart. Nothing is forever.. except one thing: The dangers of conformity. And I argue this: it gets worse after high school is said and gone..

The working world is filled with less than moral creatures. They wear three piece suits and have a smile faker than a Hollywood face after plastic surgery. They attempt to comfort co workers with words of wisdom, and have vacant and stale conversations in elevators about ‘weekend plans’ or ‘the wife and kids.’ And weather. They talk about weather. And when they do, it’s only to fill the gap that they fear: Silence in the workplace..

The quest to succeed in a job is dangerous, often. Especially when success depends on becoming a part of a ‘team.’ Conforming.. Agreeing to things that you don’t agree with.. and trying to pretend to be agreeable.

The bandwagon effect, I argue, is much stronger after high school than it was during. People change their entire persona for a job. They act like someone else.. They minus out the truth of their character and put up a facade–often times it’s based off of acting how they perceive others want them to..

Those who act the most unlike themselves often face evenings of heavy drinking.. drug use.. scandalous sex.. Anything to subtract the truth of their cowardly ways from their mind.. They feel torn between the real person deep inside the layers of fraud that they have built, with their glass house being easily shattered, they delve into the twisted and sick world of television.. They pretend to enjoy what they watch, and often watch the ‘most viewed’ programs just in order to be able to maintain a steady stream of drivel the next day in their job with co workers. The water cooler is a place without emotion. It’s a sad place.. One where people attempt to pretend to like each other, and then slowly sink the knife into the back of the ‘friend’ who walks away first..

Yes. The working world will cut you down. Your friends are your enemies and your enemies are simply dangerous. You’re on your own. Unless you’re a member of the team, someone who will actively participate in group think and do what you’re expected. Stay inside your box. Don’t dare think for yourself..

Give me the high school fights any day. They were real, filled with hormones, angst, and teen rage.

The dangerous bandwagon shows up when you decide to jump on it.In the working world, some people want to drive it..